Fig. 4: Ufmylation on UFBP1 facilitates the mitigation of obesity and hepatic steatosis and suppresses hepatic lipogenesis in NAFLD mice.

A The body weight of HFD-fed mice in the indicated groups (mice injected with AAV8-GFP, AAV8-WT UFBP1 or AAV8-UFBP1 K267R) at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 4 in each group). B The epididymal fat weight of HFD-fed mice in the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 4 in each group). C The liver weight of HFD-fed mice in the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 4 in each group). D The ratio of liver weight to body weight (LW/BW) of HFD-fed mice from the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 4 in each group). E The liver morphology of HFD-fed mice from the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection. F Representative images of ORO and HE staining of liver sections from HFD-fed mice in the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 4 in each group. Scale bar, 50 μm). ORO positive areas were quantified by calculating the ratio of the ORO stained area to the total area of an image using Image-Pro Plus and were normalized to those of the control group. Hepatocyte ballooning ratios were quantified by calculating the ratio of the number of ballooned hepatocytes to the total number of hepatocytes in per high-magnification field and were normalized to those of the control group. G Hepatic triglycerides (TG) levels (Left panels) and total cholesterol (TC) (Right panels) levels of HFD-fed mice from the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 4 in each group). H The mRNA levels of hepatic lipogenic genes (including SREBP1, SCD1, DGAT2, PPARγ and CD36) in HFD-fed mice from the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 3 in each group). I The protein levels of SREBP1 (precursor and cleaved forms), SCD1, PPARγ and CD36 in the livers of HFD-fed mice from the indicated groups at 12 weeks post-AAV injection (n = 3 in each group). Protein expression was normalized to that of β-actin. The data in (A, B, C, D, F, G, H and I) were presented as the means ± SDs and analyzed by two- tailed Student’s t test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. n.s., non-specific signals.